A Tribute to David Lynch's Iconic Wardrobe
Fifteen years ago, Esquire US writer Chris Wallace opened an article with the words “David Lynch dresses badly”. I must respectfully disagree.
Lynch was committed to a uniform, like so many modern geniuses.
Take Steve Jobs, for example. The Apple founder was unwaveringly dedicated to Issey Miyake roll necks, Levi's jeans and New Balance shoes. Also, the artist Andy Warhol, who sought comfort in unfussy monochrome get-ups.
And then there was Karl Lagerfeld, a friend of Lynch's. As we all know, the seminal fashion designer was a chic proponent of consistency and a defender of individual style.
On Thursday, news arrived that Lynch had sadly passed away at the age of 78. It prompted us to revisit old interviews conducted with the Montana-born filmmaker (celebrated for his 18-time-award-winning television creation, Twin Peaks, as well as big screen masterpieces like Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive. And of course, he beat Denis Villeneuve to the very first film adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune by 37 years.)
He seldom spoke fashion, but in 2011 he told Purple magazine “I like to feel comfortable in my work clothes,” before explaining exactly why his workwear shirts and khakis, as well as his suits – he rarely strayed from a handful of sartorial equations (a tie, or lack of, being one of the only independent variables) – afforded security.
“In Virginia, where I started out, there was an Ivy League undercurrent. You wanted to look somewhat sharp.”
He clung to that adopted sense of style until the end.
Ironically, it was everything his surrealist body of work is not: fairly predictable and straightforward.
Beyond convenience and comfortability, Lynch seemingly understood the tyranny of trend culture. (Dune fans, get ready: we're following the Bene Gesserit into the subconscious, now, so hold onto your sandworm.) Is it not better to push back against the distracting churn of fashion when, as the director often put it, “fishing” – in and outside his book Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity – for an idea?
Warhol certainly thought so, hence his well-documented desire to “be a machine”. Time was better spent meditating, in Lynch's opinion. That, and making history.
Take a look below at some of his looks through the years.
1984
1987
1988
1990
1992
1999
2004
2006
2010
2017
2019
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